The Doolittle Raiders
by Danni Walker
Summary: Rafe and Danny have crash landed in China after bombing Tokyo. Once on the ground, they are surrounded by Jap patrolls. Danny saves Rafe, but can Rafe save Danny? This is an alternate ending to Pearl Harbor.


The Doolittle Raiders  
  
The loud engines of Danny's B-25 bomber scream by just feet above Rafe and his crew after shooting to pieces the Japanese soldiers that were surrounding them. Rafe watches in disbelief as Danny's plane disappears behind a patch of nearby trees, and with a thunderous roar, crashes into the ground leaving everything quiet.  
  
"Danny!" Rafe calls out, and without thinking of possible Japs that could be hiding in the tall grass of the of the large rice patty they had just crashed in, he races toward the wreckage of Danny's plane.  
  
As Rafe nears the crash site, a few Japs pop up out of the grass in attempt to shoot him. But Rafe, who is accompanied by Red and a few others, are ready for anything and shoot them just as they stand up.  
  
"Danny! Oh my God, Danny!" Rafe yells as he reaches the remains of the plane. A few dead bodies lay on the ground next to the plane. Rafe pauses and checks the pulse of one of them, but finds none. "Aww shhh… Anthony." He says sadly to himself.  
  
Red finds Gooz laying a few feet from the cockpit in a daze. "Gooz, ya all right?" he asks shaking his face in attempt to help him regain consciousness.  
  
"Yeah…yeah." Gooz replies, looking around groggily.  
  
Rafe finds Danny in a sitting position leaning against the cockpit. "Danny." He says, relieved to find him alive.  
  
Danny looks up at him and squirms in discomfort.  
  
"Easy, easy, easy ol' boy." Rafe says, noticing the sharp metal object poking into the side of Danny's neck.  
  
"I've had better landings." Danny chuckles and shifts in pain from the impact of the crash, and the metal object in his neck.  
  
"You saved us back there."  
  
"I got somethin' in my neck."  
  
"Let me try to pull this out for ya." Rafe leans in to try and pull the metal from Danny's neck.  
  
"Where's Gooz?" Danny asks.  
  
"He's fine, he's right over there."  
  
Danny winces as Rafe tries to pull the metal object from his neck.  
  
Just then, the butt of a Japanese rifle hits Rafe smack in the head. He rolls on the ground in pain, and before he knows it his hands and feet are being tied up. Seconds later both Rafe and Danny's crew is surrounded and everyone has a gun on them. Danny looks over at Rafe and sees him trying to realize what had just happened. Then he looks over at Gooz and Red and they are standing with their hands in the air. Before Danny can look back at Rafe, the barrel of a rifle is shoved in his face and an angry Japanese soldier is screaming orders at him that he can't understand.  
  
Two soldiers rush over to him, each grabbing one of his arms and forcing him to his feet. A third soldier brings a wooden board and rests it across Danny's shoulders. They tie both of his hands to it to make sure he can't hurt them.  
  
Danny looks down at Rafe who now has a thin line of blood running down the side of his head from where the gun hit him. "Rafe!" he calls out, hoping to bring him back to reality.  
  
Rafe looks up at Danny and sees his whole body shaking in fear as he looks intensely at him with a terrified expression. Seeing his best buddy strapped to a big wooden board angered Rafe to no end. Rafe notices his pistol a few feet away from him, which fell out of his hand when he was struck in the head. Managing to loosen the ropes around his hands and feet, Rafe scoots towards his gun and grabs it.  
  
One soldier pokes Danny in the back to make him walk, while the other leads the way. Danny winces and does as instructed. As Danny turns back to look at Rafe one more time, he sees Rafe with his pistol aimed at the soldier to his left. With a loud shot the soldier falls dead to the ground. With that, a few soldiers who were by Red and Gooz rush over toward their attacker. Rafe quickly shoots them dead too. The soldier to Danny's right turns and aims his rifle at Rafe. As Rafe aims back at him and pulls the trigger, nothing happens but a simple "click". His gun is jammed. Rafe looks up at the soldier who is about to pull the trigger and prepares for the bullet. But it never comes.  
  
Knowing this is the only chance to save Rafe, Danny rams into the soldier, knocking him to the ground with the board he's strapped to. Seconds later, the soldier next to Gooz shoots Danny in the back, while the soldier next to Red does the same. Danny falls to the ground hard, still attached to the heavy board and squirming in pain. Gooz and Red watched what happened and begin to fight back. Red swiftly takes out his pistol and shoots his soldier dead, while Gooz knocks the other to the ground and takes his grenade. Some more soldiers rush over to help their fellow men, but Gooz pulls the pin and throws the grenade towards them yelling, "Grenade!". He and Red both duck as dirt flies over them from the explosion.  
  
Just as they thought they were finished, the soldier Danny tackled shows up with a loaded rifle pointed directly at Gooz and Red. The few remaining soldiers emerge and surround them. At this point, they don't plan on taking prisoners anymore. As they aim their rifles to finish them off, there are loud gunshots. Gooz and Red are surprised to see them fall dead to the ground. They turn around to see Colonel Doolittle emerge from the brush.  
  
"Thought you boys could use some help." He smiled at them. "Is everyone ok?"  
  
"We're ok, but they gggggot Danny. He's not dddddoin' so well." Red answers.  
  
Rafe has undone his tied up hands and feet and made his way over to Danny who lies tied to that heavy board and shaking. Rafe quickly moves to untie Danny.  
  
"Danny! Danny, Danny. Oh God, hold on. Hold on just one second." Rafe quickly begins to untie him.  
  
"Rafe…." Danny coughs.  
  
"Hold on now. I got ya, you're alright." Rafe glances over Danny's wounds, trying not to let Danny see his fear.  
  
"I'm not……. I'm not gonna make it."  
  
"Aww yes you are. Yes you are Danny, look at me."  
  
"Rafe, I'm so cold. I'm so cold."  
  
"You're alright. Hey." Rafe assures him, trying to hold back his tears.  
  
"Rafe? Can you do me a favor?" Danny struggles.  
  
"What?"  
  
"Can you have someone else write my name on the tombstone?" Danny tries to laugh, but it's too painful.  
  
"You're not gonna die. Look at me! Listen to me! You ain't gonna die, you hear me?"  
  
Danny begins to slip under for a moment. Rafe feels him losing life and begins to plead.  
  
"Danny. Danny you can't die. You can't die. You know why? Cuz you're gonna be a father, Danny. You're gonna be a daddy. I wasn't……… I wasn't supposed to tell you."  
  
Danny looks up at Rafe, happy and sad at the same time. He knows he'll never meet his son.  
  
Rafe smiles down at Danny with tears rolling down his cheeks. "You're gonna be a father………..please." he whispers.  
  
Danny grips the shoulders of Rafe's jacket and pulls himself closer. "No, you are." He manages to say, no louder than a whisper. Then he begins to slip further away, twitching less and less and becoming more still.  
  
"Danny. Danny? Danny please, please, please." Rafe begs, "God, please Danny." Rafe breaks down in tears hugging Danny close.  
  
Doolittle and the other pilots hurry next to Rafe. Rafe looks up at Doolittle. "Colonel, I need your help."  
  
"Are you alright, son?"  
  
"Yeah, I'm fine. But Danny isn't." Rafe answers.  
  
Doolittle orders his pilots to find some jackets to cover Danny with to help keep him warm.  
  
"What happened?"  
  
Rafe looks up at him. "He saved my life."  
  
Doolittle nods and smiles respectfully. He hands Rafe a few rags. "Here, keep pressure on those wounds. I'm going to find help."  
  
The next day Doolittle and his Raiders awake in a small Chinese village. There they can have food, water and a place to stay until transportation is arranged for them to go home. Red, Gooz, Rafe, and a few others are treated for the minor cuts and scrapes due to the crash landing.  
  
Rafe walks into a small hut. He has to duck a little to get through the doorway. A broad smile crosses his face. "Have someone else write your name on the tombstone?"  
  
There sits Danny in a bed, grinning back at Rafe. His wounds are patched up nicely and he is regaining his energy quickly.  
  
Danny chuckles at Rafe. "Come on Rafe. We both know how good you are with letters."  
  
Rafe grins and walks across the room toward him. "Yeah yeah, I'm working on it." He stands beside Danny's bed, shoving his hands into his pockets. "How are you feeling?"  
  
"Oh I'm much better now. You wouldn't believe the great amount of pain two little bullets can cause." Danny smiles.  
  
"Those two bullets were meant for me." Rafe says quietly.  
  
"I know." Danny replies.  
  
"Danny, you could have died."  
  
Danny looks up at his best friend. "I know. But you could have too."  
  
Rafe looks at the sincere eyes of his best friend. Hearing him say these words cause him to fight back tears once more. He leans down and gives Danny a big hug. "Thank you." He sniffs.  
  
Danny chuckles as Rafe still hugs him. He pats him on the back and smiles. "You're my best friend." 


End file.
